Isabela Palancean reflects on three dance works performed at Resolution festival on 11th February.
Terpsichore in Jest marks Perpetual Folly’s debut creation, offering a refreshingly honest take on relationship dynamics. ‘What is partnership if not tolerating someone else’s nonsense?’
Formed by Katie Kelly, Mary Sweetnam, and Kaya Blumenthal-Rothchild, the group stretches across the UK and Germany, united by a commitment to finding joy and playfulness in dance. Despite its undeniable level of technical difficulty, the piece managed, through experimentation and improvisation, to reveal the often ridiculous and messy aspects at play in the process of choreography. Frenetic footwork, asymmetrical gestures and off-balance weight-shifts are all part of the game. In the attempt to find harmonyagainst an atonal score of frenzied piano and strings, Kelly and Sweetnam, clumsily yet charmingly negotiated their way into space as they tested each other’s expectations, patience and trust.
A love letter to the undying charm of Northern Soul, I’ll Hold You by Hours choreographed by Sally Molloy is a work-in-progress that anyone looking for hope needs to see. Combining elements of circus and theatre, the piece drew the audience into an intimate and emotionally charged world, tapping into what director Daisy Minto calls ‘kinetic empathy ’ – a visceral, shared experience between performer and audience, where every lift, backdrop, and spin is felt beyond the stage.
What stood out immediately from the start was a sense of musical immersion, evoking a spiritual journey. This was heightened by the performers Grace Monchar and Adam Fullick’s closed eyes and seamless, gliding movements. Through acrobatic lifts, fluid footwork, and gravity-defying trust work, I’ll Hold You pays homage to the spirit of Northern Soul – its endurance, euphoria and sense of community – presenting it as a powerful antidote to the isolation of modern times.
The final offering of the night, Experiment 1-5 created by Silas Grocott Cain and performed alongside their sister Delilah Grocott Cain under PussyBoy Collective, unfolded as a series of five psychosomatic rituals, each dissecting the depth, tension, and tenderness of blood-made bonds.
Set against Luke Samuel (LS) Marley’s raw and pulsating soundscape of distorted field recordings and fractured beats, the piece examined how kinship is developed and transformed over time through intricate partnering, hypnotic floorwork, and the use of rave aesthetics.
Contrasting rapt solos with moments of weighted contact, the duo delved into the complexities of maintaining a bond while being able to preserve self-identity. The result is a hauntingly visceral exploration of familial ties that lingers well beyond the performance, affirming Grocott Cain and PussyBoy Collective as emergent forces of experimental dance.